


I'll Try For One More Night

by sanssssastark



Series: Later [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, I promise, Julie and Luke are trying to find their later, Reggie and Alex have tour crud, Sunset Curve Goes on Tour, elevator hook up, eventually, in which we finally resolve the UST, there's only one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:14:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27662548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanssssastark/pseuds/sanssssastark
Summary: Rivulets of sweat trickle down over her skin. They trace curvy lines down her spine to the small of her back from beneath the edge of the cotton t-shirt she’s tied in a knot below her rib cage. July in Houston, of course it’s hot, the air sticky and thick and has been since they started their set.“Runnin’ from the past.” Her voice is strong, but soft, and with Luke at her side, balancing on the edge of her piano stool, leaning into the microphone, she turns to him, getting lost in his eyes as he shares her mic. “Trippin’ on the now, what is lost can be found, it’s obvious.”Julie bites her lip at the feel of his breath on her cheek and watches as his eyes flick down to her lips as the crowd hushes to hear them, her voice the only sound carrying through the bar and out into the sweltering night.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: Later [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016440
Comments: 131
Kudos: 542





	1. Everything is Rushing in Fast

**Author's Note:**

> I promised you all more Later and here it is. This was supposed to be a one shot, but here we are. It's going to be two parts. Sunset Curve is spending the summer before Julie's senior year on tour and Luke and Julie still haven't found time for their later. At least not when we pick up with them here. Remember, feedback whore here. Your kudos and comments give me life and get you faster updates!

Rivulets of sweat trickle down over her skin. They trace curvy lines down her spine to the small of her back from beneath the edge of the cotton t-shirt she’s tied in a knot below her rib cage. July in Houston, of course it’s hot, the air sticky and thick and has been since they started their set.

“Runnin’ from the past.” Her voice is strong, but soft, and with Luke at her side, balancing on the edge of her piano stool, leaning into the microphone, she turns to him, getting lost in his eyes as he shares her mic. “Trippin’ on the now, what is lost can be found, it’s obvious.” 

Julie bites her lip at the feel of his breath on her cheek and watches as his eyes flick down to her lips as the crowd hushes to hear them, her voice the only sound carrying through the bar and out into the sweltering night.

And then they explode in a wall of sound that slides through her body and makes her shiver, despite the heat. Or maybe that’s the way Luke’s hand, the tips of his fingers calloused from more than a decade of strumming guitar strings, found purchase at her waist, keeping himself balanced against her.

He stands as she does and with a gentle squeeze against her hip, moves back over to his side of the stage for the last song of their set.

“Thank you!” Julie calls over her mic as the bodies in the bar bounce up and down, their mouths open wide, screaming their approval of  _ Edge of Great _ . “You’ve been such a great audience tonight. Thanks for rocking out with us. We’re Sunset Curve, tell your friends!”

She’s riding high from their energy, her body humming from it. She’s never going to get used to this feeling of connecting with people through music and that she gets to make that music with Luke, Alex and Reggie makes it all the sweeter. They’re on the second month of their summer tour. After signing with Andi Parker at Destiny Management, everything started to fall into place. Their first single,  _ Edge of Great _ is climbing the charts and they’re going to record their first album when they get home, just before she starts her senior year of high school. That is if they don’t blow up completely before then. So far, so good. They haven’t played for a less than packed house during their southern swing through Texas. She never really imagined having to choose between her senior year and being a rock star, but it really feels like it might come down to that. Then she finds the right keys with her fingers and jumps right into  _ Stand Tall _ .

Glancing to her left, she takes in her band and has to fight to keep the grimace off her face. Reggie’s face is flushed, even more so than usual, the sweat pouring off of him, so much so that he’s taken off his usual leather jacket and is down to a black sleeveless tank. Her eyes flick further over, watching Alex come in as she moves into the second verse, his eyes are glassy and while he’s not quite  _ off  _ beat, his connection to the music feels loose at best. 

They’re not just tired. She knows what tired Reggie and Alex look like after a month on the road. Their first real tour, granted out of the back of a van where they double duty as performers and roadies, but still. She’s seen them at their most exhausted after driving all night through the dark, setting up, playing a set and then packing up and doing it all over again. They just crash entirely. They’re not just tired. It’s something else.

Tour crud. 

It has to be.

They’d been warned about it, how they’d inevitably catch something funky while they were on the road. They’ve been lucky for the first month, but it seems as if their luck has run out.

Luke comes in on cue but it’s easy to tell he sees it, his brow furrowed as he glances back and forth between Reggie and Alex before looking at her, the tension in his face easing when she sends him a tight smile. They’re going to have to carry this last song home on their own. 

Julie bounces out from behind her keyboard to the center of the stage and Luke immediately follows her. They’ve been singing to each other all night, letting that natural chemistry they’ve always possessed light a fire into their songs that no one else can match. The crowd loves it as their mouths hover over the same mic, letting Reggie and Alex conserve whatever energy they have left to get through this last song.

“Imma stand tall,” Julie sings, drawing out the last note and playing with it at the bottom of her range. 

The fans go berserk as they stand together and take their final bows and then run off the stage. 

“Reg, you okay?” Luke says, grabbing the ice cold water bottles the bar’s manager has waiting for them in the small office they used as a dressing room tonight. He holds one out to Julie and she takes it gratefully, chugging almost half of it down before their bassist sort of shrugs.

“Alex, you don’t look great either,” she adds, stepping forward and reaching up to feel his forehead. Not that it’ll matter. Performing in this sweltering bar is enough to give any of them a fever. 

“I’m okay,” Alex insists, but he blinks rapidly, almost like he’s trying to clear his head. 

“Yeah, you’re not okay,” Luke says, glancing at her. “You guys head back to the hotel, get some sleep. Julie and I will pack everything up and meet you over there.”

“Julie can’t…” Reggie starts, but Julie purses her lips. She knows he’s about to say that she can’t lift their equipment into the van and she dares him to let the words pass his lips with a arch of an eyebrow.

Alex is leaning against the brick wall of the office, his face turned toward the fan on the manager’s desk, letting the air blow against his skin. “Yeah, I’d shut up now, man.” 

“Shutting up,” Reggie says, but he sort of sways on his feet. Luke’s there to grab his arms and hold him steady, but his eyes flick to Julie and she can read the very real concern in his furrowed brow. The guys are like, actually sick and they’re supposed to be playing another show here tomorrow night. 

“C’mon, we’re gonna get you guys an Uber.”

It doesn’t take much more convincing than that, which makes Julie’s concern for them grow. Just a few minutes later, she stands with Luke, watching a car drive away with their bassist and drummer. 

“C’mon, maybe we can bribe the bouncer to help us get Alex’s drum set in the van?”

The bouncer does help, but somehow despite it nearing midnight, it’s still like a hundred degrees with a hundred percent humidity, so loading the drums and the amps and the guitars, Julie’s shirt is completely soaked and though she hasn’t glanced in a mirror, she imagines her hair is bigger than the portraits of Miss Texas from the 90s the lined the bathroom walls back in the bar. 

Reaching for the hair tie on her wrist, she lets out a sigh when Luke secures the back of the van and pulls her hair up to the top of her hair. It doesn’t cool her down, but it at least gets it off the back of her neck. 

“Great set tonight you two. You’ve got some voice on you, girl,” the large bald man dressed in black from head to toe says, once everything is stored away. “Hope the other boys feel better soon. Be a shame to cancel tomorrow night.”

“Nah, we’ll be here, man,” Luke says, shaking his hand.

“Thank you so much for your help,” Julie calls as he moves back toward the bar. “Night!”

“C’mon,” Luke says, tossing her the keys. “You’re up.” 

Climbing into the van, Julie buckles up and reaches for the radio, but Luke beats her to it. “Shot gun privilege. Plus, I loaded the van.” 

“No country,” she says and he sends her a look of mock outrage. 

He spins the dial before finally landing on a rock station, the same one the bar had on before and after their set.

“We were good tonight,” he says, sliding down in the seat, propping his feet up on the dashboard. “You were total fire out there.”

“If you mean actually melting into a puddle of Julie goo, then yes, I was fire,” she says, laughing and turning up the AC, letting the cool air wash over them.

“Yes,” Luke groans, before yanking the sleeveless shirt he wore tonight over his head and sitting back with a happy sigh. “I know ac isn’t great for your voice, but right now I don’t care at all.”

Julie hums her agreement and after one long appreciative glance, forces her eyes to focus on the road back to their hotel. 

“Should we stop at a drug store and get them some supplies. They looked pretty awful.” 

“Nah,” he says. “I stocked up before we left. Cough meds, tissues, everything. The guys know which bag it’s in.” 

That gets Julie’s attention and as she rolls to a stop at a red light, she turns to face him.

Luke laughs. “This might surprise you, Jules, but before you came along,  _ I _ was the mom friend of Sunset Curve.”

“Nah,” she says with a shrug. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Really, most people assume it would be Alex.”

“Alex  _ worries _ . That’s not the same thing as what you…”

“I…” he trails off when she doesn’t continue.

There’s a soft heat building in her cheeks, one that has nothing to do with the temperature outside. “You see problems coming from a thousand miles away and already know what you’re going to do when they finally arrive, you face them head on and don’t give up until they’re dealt with.”

They slip into silence and Julie stares at the traffic light, almost willing it to be green. It finally changes and she hits the gas a little too hard. The van lurches ahead and they speed down the road, a bright Holiday Inn sign beckoning them in the distance. The music is still playing and Julie starts humming along with it. It’s an old Springsteen song,  _ Jungleland _ . It’s a great song, actually and she’s opening her mouth to tell him that they should cover it one day, though it means someone will have to learn saxophone, probably Reggie, when Luke finally speaks.

“I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.”

Julie scoffs. “That’s not possible. I distinctly remember that girl in El Paso last week calling you a rock god.” 

It’s Luke’s turn to scoff. “I think that was the margaritas talking and if I recall correctly, she called me a  _ baby _ rock god and she was at least my mom’s age.” 

She can feel his eyes on her, but she keeps her eyes on the road. She remembers that night with crystal clarity. There’d been a group of women at the bar they were playing who’d insisted on buying the band drinks after their set. And Luke, being Luke, let them while they raved about their music, because Luke loves connecting with people through music. It’s one of the things she lo—likes about him so much.

“Jules, were you... _ jealous _ of the lady in El Paso?” 

“I…” she starts to protest and loses her nerve almost instantly. Taking a deep breath, she signals to turn into the hotel’s parking lot. Releasing it slowly, she glances at him, before a break in the traffic lets her turn. “I’m not jealous of the lady in El Paso.” 

Pulling into a parking spot near the hotel’s entrance, she shifts the van into park and goes for her seatbelt, but a cool hand lands on her wrist, making a loose bracelet with his fingers. Those same calluses that brushed against the sticky skin of her waist during their set send goosebumps up over the skin of her arm and make her shiver. There’s no way he didn’t notice. 

She swallows thickly and chances a glance up at him through her lashes. He’s staring at his hand on her wrist. His skin is pale against her warm brown and she twists her hand from his clasp before tangling her fingers with his. He’s completely still for maybe the first time she can remember. Luke is usually vibrating with energy after a show, keyed up from the high of performing. Actually, he’s pretty much always like that. Not now though. He’s completely frozen, like if he moves he’ll scare her off or maybe...maybe he’s the one that might flee. She can’t be sure. All she knows is this has been a long time coming.

They promised this to each other. Weeks ago now. They whispered the word  _ later _ , knowing what it meant. That they’d finally explore this connection, the fire that burned between them for months. But then Andi Parker called and the tour was getting set up while they finished up finals and the boys graduated and they recorded their single and then they were on the road and they never really had the chance besides a few stolen moments when they could scramble some semblance of privacy. 

Flynn laughed at her more than once when she called her from the road.  _ “You have a hotel room to yourself every night, Julie. Make use of it!”  _

Except it was weird, if they just sort of shacked up together, Reggie and Alex  _ knowing _ and honestly, she wasn’t sure if she was completely ready for that. It’d almost be like actually living together, just in a different hotel room every couple of nights. That’s...a lot. Luke’s not even her boyfriend. Not in any sort of official way. Not that that word feels adequate to what she feels for him. And not that here and now is the time to do anything about it. Their bandmates are sick upstairs and they should check on them and it’s been a long night. Every night is a long night. 

Clearing her throat, she gently pulls away. “We should check on the guys,” she whispers. 

“Yeah,” he murmurs, blinking rapidly before sitting back. 

Julie twists in her seat, opening the van door, but the seat belt pulls her back.

“You okay?” he asks, standing in the open door of the passenger side of the van, pulling his shirt back over his head. He’s smiling at her, not laughing, but she can tell he wants to, his eyes sparkling.

“Shut up,” she mumbles, popping the seat belt release, struggling to hold in her own laughter.

The man at the hotel desk eyes them as they make their way through the lobby and Julie sends him a disarming smile. They’ve gotten more than one look like that at every stop on their tour. Julie doesn’t really blame them, if she was a hotel manager and two teenagers wandered into the lobby at nearly one in the morning in ripped jeans and sweat soaked hair, she’d be suspicious too. 

Her smile does the trick though and by the time he’s frowning again, Luke’s called an elevator and grabbed her hand, pulling her inside. 

She trips a little as the doors close behind her and he catches her easily as they laugh together. And his hands are at her waist again, thumbs brushing up and down. Looking up into his eyes, they’re sparkling again, she lets her laughter fade. 

Fuck it.

Julie pushes up on her toes, her fingers, twisting into his t-shirt, before pulling him down to her. There’s zero hesitation from him. His arms come around her instantly, wrapping around her waist and backing her up to the elevator wall. Her mouth opens under his as he deepens the kiss, one hand sliding lower while the other cups the back of her head, his fingers catching the hair band, pulling gently until it slides out, releasing her hair. His fingers twist into the curls and she arches against him when he tugs her closer. His hand slides to her thigh, his grip firm and insistent. His lips trail away from hers and brush against her jawline before heading for that spot he discovered months ago, just below her ear.

“C’mere,” he mutters and he lifts her against him.

Her legs come around him, wrapping around his hips, while he sucks gently at that spot.

“Luke,” she manages to gasp out.

“I forgot what you sound like. Fuck, Julie.” His words send a jolt through her and he laughs. “That’s right. You like when I do that.” 

_ Ding _ .

“What?” Julie asks.

“Shit,” Luke says and pulls away. The elevator doors are opening. They never pushed the button for their floor. His hand darts out and bashes the button that closes the doors and then again, but it doesn’t stop them from opening.

They step away from each other and Julie tries to catch her breath as a man and woman with two boys, one about Carlos’s age, the other a little younger, four suitcases between them. Luke steps back and Julie follows him to the corner of the elevator car. The woman eyes them quickly and she sends a frown at her husband, who barely spares them a glance. 

The older kid studies them for a second, looks away and then turns back, blinking. “Are you…are you guys from Sunset Curve?”

Luke startles at the question and Julie’s positive that she heard the kid wrong. 

“Uh, um, yeah,” she manages to stutter out. “We’re from Sunset Curve.”

“That’s  _ awesome _ ,” the kid says. “Can I get a pic with you guys?  _ Edge of Great _ is my jam.” 

“Sure,” Luke says, glancing at the parents quickly, who nod their permission. 

Crouching down, they stand on either side of the kid as he snaps a selfie. 

“Awesome. Thanks! It’s okay if I tag you guys, right?”

“Sure, man,” Luke says. “Tell your friends.” 

“What floor?” the mom asks, smiling at them now, no matter what her suspicions were earlier, since they were nice to her kid.

“Oh,” Julie says, standing up, patting at her hair. Luke absently hands her the hair tie that somehow made it on to his wrist. The mom’s frown is back. “Five please.” She pushes the five and then the seven. 

Thank God, their floor is first. Julie needs to get out of here right now. She needs away from their eyes, away from Luke’s hands at least for the moment, a cold shower and sleep. 

The elevator rises and she watches the numbers light up above the door, 1..2..3..4… and the lyrics from  _ Stand Tall _ pick up in her head. Next to her, Luke is already humming the melody in time with the lights. And suddenly, the pressure on her chest feels lighter and the weight on her shoulders easier. 

His hand reaches for hers and when their palms press together, he gives it a squeeze and whispers softly, “Later."


	2. Keep Going on Never Look Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She fishes her room key out of the pocket of her ripped jeans and waving it in front of her own door, just across the hall. She’s just opened it when he catches sight of the bed just over her shoulder. One bed. The only bed in her room. 
> 
> “Should I…” Luke starts to say and trails off.
> 
> Julie furrows her brow. “Should you?” she asks.
> 
> Okay, it’s awkward, but he has to ask. “Should I go get my own room?”
> 
> She lets the door click shut again and then turns, leaning against it. “Do you want to get your own room?”
> 
> Taking a step toward her and then another, until he’s so close she has to lift her chin to look him in the eye. “No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This thing has taken on a life of its own, but I think I'm FINALLY close to finishing it. Actually, I really need to be close to finishing it because I've got some major projects of my own I need to get working on for the next couple of months and the last thing I want to do is leave you all hanging. And poor Luke and Julie might actually die from waiting.
> 
> Anyway, second to last chapter of this bit in the Later series is here! I may have hinted at little moments that have happened between this fic and the previous one, so if you want to see those moments in greater detail, you're gonna have to let me know! As always, I"m a feedback whore, so comments please! Let me know what you think!

Luke scans his hotel room key against the handle and with a soft hiss and a click, the door to the room he’s sharing with Reggie and Alex unlocks. The room is pitch black except for a sliver of light where the curtains aren’t quite closed all the way and it sounds like a buzzsaw is running on the far side of the room. 

“I guess Reggie’s asleep,” Julie murmurs from just over his shoulder, following him inside.

They’d spent enough time packed into that van together to know exactly what everyone sounds like when they’re asleep and thankfully, three of them sleep in relative silence. Reggie on the other hand sounds like he’s about to do major construction on a freeway. He claims it’s from a deviated septum and there’s nothing he can do to control it. Still, it’s enough to make both Alex and Luke wear their ear buds with white noise turned up to high when they sleep.

“Yeah,” Alex agrees from the bed closest to the door. “He’s asleep and I’m dying.”

Luke had been able to put it out of his mind a little bit for the ride home. Julie was the only thing in this world that would be able to distract him from worrying about his boys. But now the worry he felt punched him in the chest back at the bar when Alex nearly fell over where he was standing is back full force. They faded pretty quickly at the end of the set and Alex sounds like shit now. Way worse than he did when he last saw him. 

“You’re not dying,” Luke says, trying to hide his concern. “You just can’t think of anything good to do.” 

“Now isn’t the time for Ferris Bueller quotes,” Alex whines. “I can’t breathe through my nose.”

“Did you guys take meds?” Julie asks, approaching the bed, but Luke grabs her arm. The last thing they need is their lead singer catching whatever this is. 

“Yeah, it’s the nighttime stuff. It should kick in soon,” Alex says, shifting around on the mattress, clearly trying to find a position that doesn't make the snot run back into his head. Luke’s been there. It sucks. “Go, save yourselves. We’ll be okay in the morning.”

“You sure, man? I don’t mind…” Luke trails off, when Reggie’s snores are punctuated by a wracking cough that somehow didn’t wake him up, but just make the sawing noise louder on the other end. “Yeah, okay we’re going. Try to sleep. We’ll check on you in the morning.” 

He grabs a bag of his stuff and his acoustic from where he’d dropped them when they got to the hotel this morning and follows Julie back out into the hallway.

She fishes her room key out of the pocket of her ripped jeans and waves it in front of her own door, just across the hall. She’s just opened it when he catches sight of the bed just over her shoulder. One bed. The only bed in her room. 

“Should I…” he starts to say and trails off.

She furrows her brow. “Should you?” she asks.

Okay, it’s awkward, but he has to ask. “Should I go get my own room?”

Julie lets the door click shut again and then turns, leaning against it. “Do you want to get your own room?”

Taking a step toward her and then another, until he’s so close she has to lift her chin to look him in the eye. “No,” he admits honestly, “but I also don’t want to…”

“You don’t want to…” she trails off, raising an eyebrow.

“No!” he shouts, too loud for an empty hallway at one in the morning. “I mean yes, I mean…”

“Luke,” Julie says, her eyes softening as she reaches out and takes his free hand in hers. “It’s just me. Just us. Relax.” 

He lets out a slightly hysterical giggle, which is the last sound in the world he wants to make right now. That’s not the kind of sound that makes Julie jolt against him. He sounds like a nervous twelve year old who can’t get up the nerve to ask a girl out. 

Julie sighs. “We don’t have to do anything.” 

And the axis of Luke’s world sort of tilts. This is not where he expected things to go. He thought he’d be the one reassuring her. Of the two of them, from what he’s been able to sort of figure out, he’s the more experienced, at least with the physical stuff. And yet, Julie, as always, is fucking amazing and completely turns the table on every assumption he’s ever made. She’s a human wrecking ball, always has been and he’s always happily volunteered for demolition. 

“That’s not...I just meant.” Luke huffs out a frustrated breath and attempts to find his footing again. “I didn’t want you to think I was assuming anything about tonight. I was trying to be polite.”

A small slip of a smile plays across her mouth. “We’re well past polite aren’t we?” 

For half a second he’s offended by the question. He’s always respected Julie, always tried to make sure she knew she could count on that from him. Had something about what happened in the elevator made her feel otherwise? He thought she was into it, she made all the noises he’d been cataloging since the first time they kissed and had kissed him so thoroughly that he actually had to fold his hand strategically in front of him when that family got in the elevator car. Shit, he must have fucked up somehow and now he needed to fix it. Immediately. Julie was...she was everything and if he...

She must read something in his face, because she pushes off the door and reaches out from him, her warm palm pressing against his cheek. “You’re thinking about this too hard. Our bandmates are sick, we’re going to share my room tonight so we don’t get sick and nothing is going to happen behind this door that both of us don’t want very much.” 

“Okay,” he says finally, looking into her warm brown eyes, every word soothing the frayed nerves that had suddenly turned him into a bumbling twelve year old version of himself that couldn’t string a sentence together in front of a pretty girl. He needs to try and salvage some of his dignity, so when she turns to unlock the door again, he steps forward, her back to his front and leans down. Her hand freezes on the door handle and the sharp inhale of breath is music to his ears. “Want...very much?” he asks softly, right against her ear. 

“Very much, “she whispers and then pushes open the door and steps inside, flicking on the light.

He follows her inside. The room looks almost exactly like his, except that he had two queen beds, while Julie’s room has a large king bed in the center and a small loveseat shoved into a corner. From what he knows about hotel rooms, that probably folds out into a bed. He thinks about being polite, about saying he’d sleep there, but...she said they were past that, didn’t she? He won’t bring it up unless she does.

“Ugh,” she says, tossing her key down on the dresser before falling back onto the mattress. “I need a shower, but I am so tired.” She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and it lands beside her on the bed. “Shower and then food and then sleep?” she suggests, kicking off the brown cowboy boots she’d worn to perform tonight.

Pushing up to sit atop the dresser, he toes off his vans and nods. “Yeah that’s a good plan.”

Luke turns his nose into his own shoulder and sniffs softly. Yeah, he definitely needs a shower too. Especially if he’s going to spend the night here. Wait, did she mean they should shower together? No, she probably didn’t and she told him that he needed to stop thinking about this too hard. If she wants him to join her in the shower, she’ll say so. 

Julie’s phone blinks to life and her Dad’s face takes up the entire screen. 

And that cuts off all circulation to his brain entirely.

“Hey,” she answers it, without even giving him a second glance. Shit. Fuck. What is he supposed to do? Ray Molina is an incredibly cool guy, especially for a dad, but Luke’s pretty sure that only extends so far and a guy, any guy in his daughter’s hotel room in the middle of the night is probably too much for even Ray’s chill vibe. 

In his panic, Luke misses the beginning of the conversation, but when he picks it back up, Ray’s asking her about the show and then Julie frowns. “Reggie and Alex are sick.”

“Ah,” Ray says, sagely. “Tour crud. It was only a matter of time.”

“Yeah, I just hope Luke and I don’t get it too. We have to perform tomorrow night and then get right back on the road for New Orleans. Hopefully they’ll be better in the morning.” 

“Okay, nina, I just called to make sure you were back safe at the hotel. Give the boys my best and if you need to cancel a stop, you call Andi right away.”

“I will.” 

You have a good night and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” 

“Night papi,” she says and she’s just about to end the call when her dad’s voice echos out of the phone again.

“Luke, good night to you too, son.” 

Julie turns the screen toward him and he sends Ray a sort of half salute, half wave and what he hopes is a completely sane looking grin. “Good night” he says, his voice half cracking on the words. Well, at least he’s graduated from twelve and never touched a girl to thirteen and sounds like a broken piano.

“Tell Carlos goodnight for me,” Julie says, turning the phone around again and with one last goodbye, she ends the call.

Luke nearly collapses back against the wall in complete horror and embarrassment. “How did he know?”

“Parents  _ always _ know,” Julie says, with a heavy sigh. “Besides he probably assumes this isn’t the first time you’ve been in my room since we’ve started touring.”

“Your dad thinks we’re…” 

Julie laughs. “Luke  _ everyone _ thinks we’re…” 

He ignores that last bit. That can’t be true, because they’re  _ not _ and it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t care what  _ everyone _ thinks. He cares what like...five total people in the world think and one of them is definitely Julie’s dad. “And he’s cool with it?”

“I wouldn’t say  _ cool _ , but he trusts me and loves me and he loves you. He knows that I…” she trails off at that, a flush coloring her cheeks slightly. “Anyway, I think he figures nothing is going on that hasn’t already happened, you know?”

“And everyone really thinks this?”

“I mean I haven’t asked everyone, but yeah, I think so. I’m pretty sure even Reggie and Alex think we’re sneaking around.” 

“Well, there was that time in San Diego... “ Luke trails off, remembering with crystal clarity the aftermath of their first show outside of LA. The high coming off that stage was like nothing he’d ever felt until somehow he and Julie had stumbled out into the alley behind the venue and her back was pressed against the brick wall, stray curls glued to her face with a sheen of sweat making her skin glow in the crappy light over the club’s back door. Their mouths had come together rough and wild, teeth clashing and at one point he’s pretty sure he’d been sucking on Julie’s tongue, but then the bar back had come out into the alley to toss some garbage into the dumpster and not only had it broken the moment, but Luke had felt pretty gross about just sort of attacking her next to a stinking pile of trash. She hadn’t seemed to mind at the time though.

“Yeah,” Julie agrees and her eyes twinkle at him. Doesn’t seem like she minds now either. “San Diego and then El Paso.”

Maybe it hadn’t been the most responsible thing in the world, but they were on tour and when those women had offered to buy them a round, it felt rude not to accept. They’d only had one, but it’d been enough to convince all of them to try out the mechanical bull in the bar’s far corner and for Reggie and Alex to challenge each other to a content of who could stay on longer, while Julie and Luke had retreated to the room they’d used to change that night, which doubled as the bar’s storage closet, crates of glasses and bottles lining the shelves. The door had barely shut behind him when Julie had pushed him back against it and kissed him to within an inch of his life. His memory of that night is a little fuzzy, but he does remember the taste of the sharp strawberry drink on her lips mingling with the salt of their sweat and the way her body had fit against his, how her hips followed every twitch of his fingers against them.

He laughed a little at the memory because that time they’d been interrupted by Alex trying to barrel through the door and Luke’s head bouncing off the wood painfully while Reggie shrieked in glee about his twenty-two second championship mechanical bull ride. 

“So maybe I was a little jealous of that woman in El Paso,” Julie admits, laughing with him. “But she was right. You are a rock god and I think that’s the night I really understood it. The crowd was not our scene and it was like you were willing them to love us and halfway through the set they were eating out of your hand.”

“I remember that night,” Luke says, pushing off the dresser and moving to sit next to her on the bed, “Yeah, I was on fire, but the thing that always gets them in the end is you, Julie. You hit that first rise on Bright and it was like dynamite went off on stage. Everyone in the place stopped and looked. You’re always great, but that night, it was like someone set off something in you. You’ve been like that every night since. I always knew you were special, but fuck, you blew me away.”

Apparently, that was the right thing to say. When he woke up this morning, if someone had told him he’d be on the other side of midnight knocked back onto a bed by Julie Molina as she straddled his hips and pulled the very air from his lungs as she kissed him, he would have laughed at the absurdity of the idea, no matter what  _ everyone _ seemed to think they were doing. 

But now it was happening, her hands fisting into his hair, her breasts against his chest, spilling just a little out of the unbuttoned line of the henley tank she’s wearing and her hips, shit...the things she can do with those hips. 

“You like my hips?” she asks, her mouth against the cut of his jaw.

“Did I say that out loud?” he asks, gasping as she twists her body against his again. She laughs softly as their bodies grind together, his hands finding purchase there and guiding her movements. “I love your hips. I spend an obscene amount of time thinking about them. I’ve been writing a song, I told you about it, about that gorgeous view we had during our camp trip to Lake Tahoe.”

“Yeah,” she asks, but his brain can’t keep the thoughts straight in his head while her lips trail down over his neck and she gently nips at his Adam’s apple.

“Fuck, Julie,” he manages through clentched teeth and rolls them over when he feels his words send that now familiar quake through her entire body. His weight pins her to the mattress and she arches against him as he dips his head to her neck, whispering against her skin, tasting that sweat he remembers from back in El Paso. “That song isn’t about hills and valleys. It’s about you. Your body, your hips, your breasts.” 

“Ah dios mio,” she manages to stutter, her body literally shaking under his. Luke pulls back, just a little, gazing down at her, her eyes screwed shut, her mouth open gasping softly.

Shit. Had she just…

The beats of  _ Flying Solo _ cut off his thoughts and he blinks, before looking to his left, where Flynn’s face is lighting up Julie’s phone. 

“Ignore it,” she insists.

“It’s Flynn,” he says, pulling away and rolling off her in the opposite direction. “She’ll just keep calling.” 

“Let her,” Julie says, still unmoving, eyes closed, her chest rising and falling like she just sprinted a city block.

“And then she’ll call hotel security.” 

At that Julie snorts at the complete truth in his words and relents, swiping open the FaceTime call. 

“I’m going to kill you,” she says and Luke grins at how completely breathless she sounds.

“What? What are you...oh. Ohhh. Uh, hi Luke,” Flynn stutters and she’s never heard the girl sound more flustered in his entire life.

“Hey Flynn,” he says, raising his hand and watching the tiny video of himself do the same in the corner of Julie’s phone screen.

“I’ll just, we can do this…” he almost says later, but no, not this time. He’s not leaving this room until they figure this shit out. He’s done wasting time. 

“No, I’ll go,” Flynn calls through the screen while Julie’s still glaring at her.

“It’s fine,” Luke insists and then turns to Julie. “I need a shower anyway. Order us some food?” 

Rocking himself up and off the mattress, he grabs his bag from the floor and heads for the bathroom. 

“Girl…” he hears Flynn, squeal through the walls. “What was  _ that _ ?” 

“I can’t even,” Julie says. “He barely even touched me and I…”

“Are you kidding me?” Flynn shrieks and Luke has to struggle to keep a bark of laughter from launching out of his chest. He reaches into the shower to turn the water on and drown out their voices. It’s a private conversation, but he can’t help the glow of pride in his chest at what he’d managed to make her feel.

Stripping off his clothes, he tosses them into a ball for their laundry bag. They’re going to have to hit a laundromat tomorrow before their show if he’s going to have any clean clothes for their gig in New Orleans. 

He tests the water with his hand. It’s perfect. Ice fucking cold. He needs to cool down and fast because if he doesn’t, there’s no way he won’t go back out there, rip the phone out of her hands and act out every fantasy he’s had for the past three years until they both pass out. 

Luke plans to do that, eventually, but first he needs a clear mind because tonight they’re going to figure this thing between them out. They have to or he might go insane from the sheer torture of not being with her. No more laters. Just him and her. Tonight.


	3. One More Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s no steam following him out of the bathoomroom. A cold shower then. She almost laughs when he looks up at her, rubbing his hair dry with a towel. 
> 
> “All yours, boss,” he quips with a smile.
> 
> Biting her lip, she walks toward him and then stops directly in front of him, cutting off his path into the rest of the room. 
> 
> “Actually,” she says, looking up into his eyes. She’s so close, she can see the tiny flecks of gold scattered through the hazel irises. Reaching out, she twists the fabric of his clean t-shirt between her fingers before dropping them to the hem. He blinks at her, mouth just slightly open, frozen, waiting for what she’ll do next. Slowly, she lifts the shirt, exposing his skin inch by inch before he snaps out of it and helps her take it off. Then they’re just standing there, breathing slowly together.
> 
> She takes the shirt from him and grins. “Perfect, thanks, I need some pajamas for the night. We definitely need to hit a laundromat tomorrow morning.” 
> 
> Stepping around him, as he lets out a soft groan from the back of his throat, she chuckles a little bit. 
> 
> “You’re gonna pay for that one,” he says, as she’s shutting the door behind her. 
> 
> She turns and grins. “Promise?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it folks. Finally, Luke and Julie get their later. I had to up the rating of this fic for it because I feel like I couldn't write you all more than 20,000 words in this universe promising a *ahem* resolution to all this build up and not fully deliver. I hope it lives up to expectations! As always I live for your feedback, so please leave a comment and let me know what you think! There are a few moments in these fics that I think could probably be expanded on, so let me know what you guys want to see! 
> 
> And without any further ado...

“So what are you gonna do?” Flynn asks, for the tenth time in the last few minutes. Julie sighs and throws her head back against the cushioned headboard. 

“I don’t know.” 

“I know what I’d do.” 

“Flynn,” Julie warns. They’ve had this conversation many, many times over the last few weeks and it always ends up in the same place. 

“I know, I know, I’m just saying. Don’t talk yourself out of something you want just because you think you shouldn’t want it.” 

“I’m not. I swear. It’s actually…”

“What?” Flynn asks, her head tilting in what Julie recognizes as genuine curiosity. 

“It’s just so much _better_ than it’s ever been before. I’ve never felt like this with anyone. I mean not that I have a ton to compare it to, but it’s just...not normal. ”

“Julie, you are not going to get sympathy from me because you’re about to have mindblowing sex with the guy of your dreams.” 

“That’s not what I mean. It’s like...sometimes things are so intense that I’m going to burst into a million pieces,” Julie says.

“Which you just did without him really doing much of anything because apparently the kid is actually a rock god, just like he always wanted to be.” 

“No, it’s not that,” Julie cuts in and Flynn rolls her eyes. “Okay, it’s not _just_ that. It’s that and in the same breath we can laugh about it and he says the sweetest things, without even really trying to, I think, he’s just...being honest and open and he’s so...I think I really….no, I know I really…”

“Stop right there,” Flynn says. “Don’t tell me. Tell him. After you shower though because girl I can practically smell the cheap beer and sweat on you from a thousand miles away.” 

There’s a knock on the hotel room door which effectively distracts Julie from the fact that she’s realized a fundamental truth about herself and her feelings. A truth she doesn’t want to even really think and she refuses to let the words form in her head because those words aren’t even for her. They’re for him.

“I gotta go,” Julie says. “Room service is here.”

Flynn blows her a kiss and winks before hanging up. 

She ordered some fruit and nuts and bread. Closing in on two in the morning is not really time for super heavy food, especially since they have to get up and do all of this again tomorrow. And...especially if they’re about to do what she thinks they’re about to do.

Tipping the guy who dropped off the food, she hears the water in the bathroom cut off and starts gathering her shower stuff out of her suitcase. And pajamas. 

Crap. She doesn’t...it wasn’t like she was planning on this happening tonight. The only thing she has that’s remotely sexy is...nothing. She has nothing sexy in this bag. At all. She could rock a sports bra and a pair of shorts, maybe, but...isn’t that a bit too obvious and also like that thing is impossible to get off once it’s on.

And she accused Luke of thinking about this too much. Now she’s the one freaking out. She needs to calm down. A shower can do that, a nice, hot shower to loosen the tight muscles in her back and arms (because no matter what Luke says, she did help load the van earlier) and then...whatever happens...happens.

The bathroom door opens and she turns to him. There’s no steam following him out of the room. A cold shower then. She almost laughs when he looks up at her, rubbing his hair dry with a towel. 

“All yours, boss,” he quips with a smile, tossing the towel over his shoulder. 

Biting her lip, she walks toward him and then stops directly in front of him, cutting off his path into the rest of the room. 

“Actually,” she says, looking up into his eyes. She’s so close, she can see the tiny flecks of gold scattered through the hazel irises. Reaching out, she twists the fabric of his clean t-shirt between her fingers before dropping them to the hem. He blinks at her, mouth just slightly open, frozen, waiting for what she’ll do next. Slowly, she lifts the shirt, exposing his skin inch by inch before he snaps out of it and helps her take it off. Then they’re just standing there, breathing slowly together.

She takes the shirt from him and grins. “Perfect, thanks, I need some pajamas for the night. We definitely need to hit a laundromat tomorrow morning.” 

Stepping around him, as he lets out a soft groan from the back of his throat, she chuckles a little bit. 

“You’re gonna pay for that one,” he says, as she’s shutting the door behind her. 

She turns and grins. “Promise?”

Julie doesn’t wait for his answer, just closes the door on his stunned face and the way his pupils dilated at her words, a fire burning there that sets off a matching one across her skin. She leans against the door, giggling like crazy. What had possessed her to do that? She didn’t even know where it came from. It’s what Luke does to her. It’s like a completely separate part of her brain wakes up and does things she never in a million years would think about doing with anyone else. He makes her brave. 

She can practically hear Flynn and...yeah probably her mom too in her head scolding her for that thought. It’s not that she’s not brave on her own. She can be, if she needs to be, but he makes it so much _easier_ to be fearless. Like nothing can touch her.

Except him. 

She definitely wants him to touch her.

Which is why she takes a super fast shower, at least fast for her. She was going to wash her hair tonight, but instead the curls are up and under a shower cap. They might look a little bit ratty tomorrow, but it’s worth if it gets her back out there faster and gives her plenty of time to make sure the rest of her feels ready and...mostly smooth to the touch.

That taken care of, she lets the water run over her skin for a little bit. They’ve been on this road for so long she’s not sure what to do now that they’re here, finally. She’s not sure what she imagined a few months ago when, high on that performance outside of her garage she’d thrown caution to the wind and kissed him breathless, but this isn’t quite it. A random hotel room in a random city with the convenient excuse of having to share a room because their friends are sick.

Is that okay? That it’s...random? 

But is it even random?

Julie’s always believed in signs, in the universe sort of guiding you one way or another and every choice she’s made in the last few months has led her here. 

That’s not random. She might not go so far as to call it fate, but...whatever it is, it’s _right_.

Luke is right. 

In the way that the sky is blue and grass is green and water is wet and for a songwriter she’s really crappy with these kinds of analogies, but he is. Being with him is right. The only other thing that’s ever come close to feeling this way was joining Sunset Curve. 

Reaching out, she wipes the steam off the mirror and stares at her reflection. His t-shirt has sleeves, but the neck’s cut out, so it sort of hangs off her shoulder and the hem falls to her mid thigh. It’s a faded black with KISS lettering outlined in white across the chest, though for her, the bottoms of the letters nearly reach her belly button. 

She reaches up and takes off the shower cap, letting her curls fall down over her shoulders. 

She’s ready.

Now she just needs to go out there, back where she left him gaping at her with eyes burning with such an intense fire that she had to shut the door against it. 

Is she ready to meet that fire with her own?

Yes.

Just after she’s brushed her teeth.

Flicking the bathroom light off, she moves back into the room. The bright lights in the ceiling are off, replaced by the lamp on the bedside table which gives off a soft golden light. The TV is on, but that’s not what draws her eye.

Luke is sprawled across the bed, still shirtless, propped against the headboard, one arm up and resting over his head, the other popping a piece of sliced melon into his mouth. He takes a bite and the melon, somehow, despite its origins in the hotel kitchen, is juicy enough that it runs quickly over his bottom lip, down his chin and underneath where his five o’clock shadow is just starting to appear. It takes every ounce of willpower she possesses not to just dive onto the bed and catch that droplet with her tongue.

Except he wipes at it and then looks up at her with a sheepish grin, which fades as he really looks at her. It’s not like how he looks at her on stage. It’s close, but this is different. His eyes linger from the top of her head, to her eyes and then lips, over her shoulder where he hesitates and then does a slow sweep of her body. When his gaze lands on the hem of the shirt, his tongue darts out, wetting that bottom lip before he finishes his perusal all the way down to her toes, which she curls into the carpet to keep her in place. 

Clearing her throat, she has to look away. “So what are we watching?” she asks, glancing at the TV.

“Dirty Dancing,” he says and she looks back at him. “I’ve never seen it before.”

“Seriously? It’s the best. Patrick Swayze was so…” she trails off and looks back at him.

“Jules,” he asks, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Do you have a _thang_ for Patrick Swazye?”

“I do not have a _thang_ ,” she insists, laughing and climbing up onto the mattress, crawling over to him and settling down against his side.

Why was she so in her own head just a second ago? This is Luke. This is normal. This is them.

“I think you do,” he says, dropping his arm around her and pulling her close as the entertainment staff at Kellerman’s starts dancing to _Do You Love Me_? by the Contours. When she was a little girl this scene used to make her blush, now it just makes her wonder whether or not Luke can dance.

She hums in agreement against the skin of his shoulder as fingers tangle into the curls spilling over her shoulder and onto his chest. He presses his nose against her temple and inhales slowly before brushing his lips there. 

It’s so easy, almost comically so after all her angst and frustration, to turn her face up to him and let his mouth meet hers. With a soft click, the movie is gone from the screen and he’s reaching back to put the remote on the nightstand as he shifts over her.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” she murmurs as she falls back onto the mattress and he follows her, his lips spreading into a smile against hers.

“Exactly how long did you think it would take when you come out here in my shirt, looking like…” he trails off to gently nip at her earlobe.

“Like what?” she gasps.

“Like my wildest fantasies come to life,” he whispers. “You in one of my shirts.”

“I’ve worn your shirts before. I have at least five or six of them in a drawer back home,” she admits, softly, her arms coming up around his shoulders to give herself more leverage, wanting to be as close to him as possible.

“This is different,” he says, punctuating just how different with his hand smoothing down the cotton at her hip and down to her leg, a hand circling her thigh and lifting her up against him. 

Gasping at the contact, her hips cradle his as he presses against her, already hard through the cotton of his thin sweatpants. 

His hand slides up from her thigh, under the cotton hem of the shirt in question, his thumb rubbing small circles over her hip bone. The calloused skin is such a contrast to her own, it’s enough to make her squeeze her thighs together, drawing him even closer to her. 

“When you took this shirt off me before, I thought I might die, right there on the spot,” he confesses, inching the fabric up slowly.

“Yeah?” she asks, “and now that you’re the one taking it off me?”

“Oh, I’m already dead,” he admits. “Came back to handle a little unfinished business.”

She laughs against his shoulder, pressing a kiss there and then lower, at his collar bone, running her tongue along the sharp cut of warm skin, lined with sparse hair and a few freckles. She intends to memorize each and every one.

“Jules, you know what you said before,” he manages to grind out from between his teeth as she circles her hips, loving the friction they’re creating between them. “About everyone already thinking that we’re doing this. You know we don’t have to just because everyone is thinking it, right?” 

Julie pulls back and their eyes meet. His pupils are blown wide in arousal, only a sliver of hazel still visible around the dark black and his breathing is labored, like they’re in the middle of an epic set, but there’s concern written across his face and the thought comes unbidden, but completely and utterly true.

“Luke, I love you.” 

A slow, almost lazy smile slides over his mouth, but then disappears as he swallows roughly. His eyes soften from unbridled lust to something that looks like reverence. 

“How is that possible?” he asks, softly, almost to himself. 

She answers anyway. “Wrong question,” she says, lifting a hand up to caress his cheek, her thumb brushing against his bottom lip, which has suddenly become the most fascinating part of him. “The real question is, why did it take me so long to tell you?”

“You’ve been telling me,” he says, turning his face into her hand, kissing her palm before taking her hand in his and trailing his lips down to her wrist. “I know you have, for so long now. When did you know?”

“That day in school,” she confesses, as his mouth drops to her shoulder, trailing the torn collar of his shirt with soft, open mouthed kisses. He’s playing her body like he works his guitar strings, with an expert touch, drawing the music out of her slowly. “When you asked me to ditch and write with you; when you told me I make you a better writer.” 

“I knew before that,” he says, sounding so absurdly proud that he’d fallen in love first that she actually feels her heart swell. “I knew I loved you the moment you hit that last note in _Finally Free_ at our first real gig. I was lost, for good and it just keeps getting stronger, Jules. It’s kind of terrifying. I loved you then and I love you now, Julie. So much. And tomorrow, I’ll just love you more and everyday after that. If you’ll let me.” 

It’s absurd really, to have him looking down at her like this, in this random hotel room in a random city and know that this is it. This is the man she’s going to spend the rest of her life with. Who meets their soulmate at sixteen? Who knows by seventeen with this kind of certainty who they’ll walk that long, winding road with until the day they die? But she knows, deep in her bones, down to the marrow, in her blood, she knows that it’s him. Forever. 

She can’t think about it too hard or she’ll completely fall apart. Hell, there’s already a tear spilling out of the corner of her eye and when Luke leans down to catch it with his lips and then press a soft kiss to her temple, she can’t stand it any longer. She grasps his chin in her hand and meets his mouth, taking his bottom lip between hers she gives it a gentle tug, her tongue running over it with purpose. 

He seems to take that as his cue and his hands are agile against her body. He learns quickly exactly what she likes, that she’s not made of glass and that a firmer touch is something she craves from him. Luke slows down for one thing and that’s to, slowly, with agonizing intention, lift his shirt up and off her body. His hand spans her back, warm and solid as he lifts her off the bed to remove the shirt entirely and as the ball of cotton is tossed back over his shoulder, she lands back on the mattress, his hand behind her head, guiding her there as he looks down at her with the kind of hunger she’s never seen before. 

“Have I ever told you what a fucking goddess you are?” he murmurs, his mouth dropping to the swell of her breast and then lower, taking her into his mouth a soft groan in his throat drowned out entirely by his name spilling from her tongue.

“Luke,” she finally manages to form a coherent thought. “I want you, so much.”

“How much?” he says, propping his chin up on her sternum, his cheek scratching lightly against the skin of her breast, sending a shiver of goosebumps over her entire body.

Taking his hand in hers, she slowly guides it down over the flat plain of her stomach, to press his palm lower and he lets out a rough grunting noise at the heat they find together. 

“Please,” she says, not above begging. “I want you, inside me, now.” 

“Fuck,” he says between clenched teeth, his jaw twitching. “I had _plans_ , Jules. I was gonna…” 

“You said you’ll still love me tomorrow, right? Even more than you do right now?” she asks, arching against him as his fingers twitch and send a lighting bolt of pure pleasure through her. “Save your plans for tomorrow. I just want you, right now. Not later. _Right now_.”

Her panties find the floor and not long after that, he’s kicking aside his sweatpants and pulling a line of foil packets out of the nightstand drawer. Apparently he’d come prepared for his plans.

When he slides inside of her, one hand guiding himself home, the other entwined with hers, Julie feels like her soul is leaving her body, every inch of her skin singing for the touch of his. She feels whole, totally and utterly complete. 

And then he moves and she loses all grip on reality. Arching against him, her hips find his rhythm after a moment, setting a frantic and frenetic pace. Tomorrow they can draw this out, tomorrow he can trace patterns on her skin with his calloused fingers and talented tongue until she’s shaking with need and she can rise up over him while he watches her and use the hips he’s been writing a song about to bring him over the edge. All that is for later, but tonight, it’s simple and easy and just them, together for the very first time.

His hands find purchase at her hips and he rears up when her nails scrape softly down from his neck, over his back.

“You’re close, aren’t you?” he asks, a rivulet of sweat running down over his forehead, dripping down from the tip of his nose to her quivering stomach. Her body telling him all he needs to know, apparently. She lost control of herself and his hips are beating out an uneven rhythm, their chests heaving as they struggle for breath against the rising wave cresting between them.

Julie just nods her head, unable to form words when his fingers slide between them and he doubles his efforts.

Then there’s nothing and at the same time, everything. A blinding white light and then sparks behind her eyes, her body shaking like it had earlier that night, but so much harder and for so much longer and he’s with her, his strength giving out as he falls against her, his chest against hers, his mouth at her neck, as their bodies ride out the last few moments together. 

She has no idea how long it takes her before she’s able to breathe normally, but when she does there are these slightly awkward moments to work through, when he slides out of her and she groans at the loss, when he ties off the condom and grabs a tissue to wrap it in, when she has to excuse herself to use the bathroom, but through the awkwardness, she can’t keep the smile off her face because even these weird moments are exactly what she wanted. This is just them getting ready for bed, the same way they can every night if they choose to, no more later hanging over their heads a terrifying promise to work through and figure out. 

She slides his shirt back over her head while he ties the drawstring of his sweatpants, but she can’t help the yawn that escapes and he looks back at her over his shoulder at the sound, a slow smile spreading over his face, 

“C’mon, boss. Time for bed.” 

She glances at the clock. It’s nearly three in the morning. 

“Bed sounds good,” she murmurs, climbing. “You can take the sleeper sofa.” She nods to the love seat in the corner of the room.

For a solid five seconds, he stares at her, mouth open, blinking like he’s not sure he heard her and for almost all five of those seconds, she manages to keep a straight face. And when her laughter spills out, he grins, shaking his head at her, like he doesn’t quite believe she exists. He grabs her hand and pulls her to him before they stumble back into the bed and just as his mouth finds hers, his own yawn makes him pull back. 

“Sleep now,” she says, sliding under the covers and holding them up for him to climb under with her. “We can do the rest later.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, slotting his body up against hers, as her head falls to his chest, the pillow she plans to use every night for the rest of her life. “Later.”


End file.
